Hello to one and all and as always we hope this finds you and all of yours fit and healthy and fighting your way through towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Is it just me or is there a hint of optimism in the air? Vaccine rollout is going well, Spring is in the air and my football team are looking good. What’s not to like?
Well, it’s been a busy month (is there ever any other) here at Dràm Mòr Group, but for once it has been pretty much behind the scenes with a very busy month on the Cask Clan side of things with many new cask owners joining the Clan from as far afield as Newton Mearns to New York. On that note, something that I wanted to drop into conversation this month are the amount of very questionable cask brokers who are popping up right now. We have been working hard doing our due diligence on many of these companies and the results have varied from not great to shocking.
Unfortunately, after a few big reports last year from organisations like Frank Knight and Forbes pinpointing cask investment as their number one pick these shady dealers have seen a ‘get rich quick’ opportunity and just like sharks who smell blood these guys are going into a frenzy. If ever anyone wants information on how go about investment in a cask safely all you need to do is drop us a line and there is of course absolutely no commitment of any kind from yourself. Speaking of The Cask Clan, if you haven’t joined Ruaraidh’s Dràm Mòr Cask Clan Facebook page, then I can thoroughly recommend it with twice weekly articles on the industry it’s a great read, but won’t take up half your day.
On the Indy bottler front we are starting to see a lot of empty shelves out there as what was left of the Christmas release gets snapped up and that in turn sees our door being virtually hammered by our distributors from far and wide wanting to know what’s next. I can’t tell you too much on this front other than I am due a wee visit to the warehouse this week to collect samples from 9 casks some of which I’m hoping will be ready for you to buy by the end of April.
On to the virtual world of whisky tastings. There have been a few to enjoy but nothing as hectic as the previous few months. There have been a few private tastings but we did have a brilliant night at the beginning of February as I was introduced for the first time to The New Dram Drinkers. A wonderful night was had by all from far and wide as this club sees a very eclectic group of drammers from different countries coming together to share their love of our national drink. A great big thanks go to Nicky and Ant for inviting me along and for my old friend Menno for hosting the evening.
I very much hope we can repeat the experience one of these days and if you fancy a taste of what’s on offer why don’t you have a look at their YouTube channel
Moving on to the next tasting and oddly this one is only in the planning as yet, but I’m told it’s going to be a whopper with numbers in the three figure variety as I entertain whisky clubs from across Franconia and Bavaria. A massive thanks goes out to Mr. John Farley who is no stranger to entertaining the good folk of Nuremberg with three bars to his name. The Irish Castle, The Irish Cottage and The Thirsty Baker. Delighted to be on board with John and I thank him for managing to squeeze a Scotsman into his emerald oasis in Germany’s heartlands. Report to follow!
Moving on and we had a slightly out the Dràm Mòr box as Andre De Almeida from Inside The Cask blog wanted to pick my brains (I know. Too many jokes right there!) about how to set up a whisky club and as a founder and Chairman of The Mòr Whisky Club I was more than happy to help. It so happens the Andre is also a member of our club although his work with Loch Lomond Distillery means there are few opportunities for him to attend. It got me thinking though, it is now over a year since we were able to hold our whisky club night and you better believe I am missing so many of my good friends from the club. If it’s of interest you can read the article here
On the subject of bloggers there were some beautiful pictures posted once again in Germany by Inside Whisky so a big thank you to Miriam. This is only a prelude to what is to follow from Miriam as we have an interview line up on line. Very much hoping to drag Viktorija into that one so that people can see the real brains of the organisation and give her a platform to get some of the credit that she deserves. There will be a new article coming out soon this time from Poland and our good friend Piotr Stachura who received samples from across our first three releases with a view to writing an article which will be available in the next few weeks
Lastly, we would like to thank the @whiskyandwhiskeyusa page on Instagram for the spreading the love and special thanks to Mark Gillespie from Whiskycast for for featuring Dràm Mòr drams on his podcast.
So it’s a short, but sweet update, in February, but by this time next month we should have the full rundown of what you can expect in the next release, so need to get back to the grindstone and see what we can bring you next.
Until then, as always, stay safe and well and raise a glass to the to the day where we can raise a glass together again.
Slàinte!
Kenny
